It's no slam dunk teachers will accept offer

Three weeks from now, we should know if the disruptions to extracurricular activities and classroom work in Saskatchewan schools will come to an end.

Less certain is whether the soured relationship between the Saskatchewan Party government and teachers will also end.

Given the developments leading to the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF) ratification vote on May 8 and 9 on what the government bargaining committee is describing as its final offer, there's reason to suspect the bitterness might not go away even if teachers accept the deal.

And teachers accepting the deal isn't necessarily a slam dunk, either.

Perhaps the three-year deal producing a three-, three- and two-per-cent wage increase will be seen to be as good as it gets for teachers who are every bit as sick and tired of this protracted labour dispute as everyone else in the province.

Notwithstanding the Sask. Party government's taxpayer-funded billboard campaign implying the teachers were initially demanding a 23-per-cent-plus increase on top of annual inflation adjustments, it never felt as if teachers thought they were going to land anywhere close to this bargaining-open wage request of nearly a year ago.

For most teachers, this fight was more about classroom composition and complexity than it was ever about the money.

And after what the STF described this week as “difficult negotiations,” it's also possible that teachers will decide in three weeks that they will do no better than a “reference” to an accountability framework in the contract.

After all, the government has made it crystal clear that it simply has no interest in budging on the notion of having direct classroom complexity and composition language in the contract.

To the notion of relenting on teachers' demands related to added supports in the classroom, Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill said this week something to the effect of: “What do they want me to do? Give up my first-born child?” He made the comment in a conversation with a grieving mother who had just lost her first-born with special needs. She had come to the legislature to raise the issue of the need for more classroom supports. Cockrill apologized in the assembly on Thursday for his insensitive phrasing.

But, if nothing else, the incident offered insight into how passionately he feels about giving so much as an inch.

However, teachers have been equally passionate on the matter, which is why this ratification vote seems less predictable.

In fact, it's quite possible that the intransigence demonstrated by Cockrill and his government has become added motivation for the teachers to carry on this fight.

Maybe teachers feel this is about as good as it gets and see further action as fruitless. Or maybe they will say: “We've come this far ...”

Perhaps the single biggest problem with these negotiations is that it's been one ill-timed remark and strategy after the next — clumsy and provocative remarks from the government that are often a deliberate attempt to irritate teachers because the government thought it somehow played better, politically speaking, with a certain sector of the electorate.

If teachers do decide they want to carry on this fight, one distinct reason will be that they're still mad over their treatment by Cockrill, Premier Scott Moe and the government bargaining team.

After STF president Samantha Becotte's initial suggestion last week that some progress had been made on classroom complexity and composition and funding accountability to “properly address all of the issues important to teachers,” she had this to say on Thursday:

“We didn't want to go and sit at a table and hear `no' for another two days as we had previously experienced,” Becotte said.

It was not only a remarkable change in tone but also less than a ringing endorsement encouraging ratification from the union leadership.

Again, teachers might ratify this deal anyway. If they do, the government will proclaim this as a win.

But will it really be a win for harmony in Saskatchewan education?

That's something yet to be determined.